Photos. Br £vans,Co«nino. N. v. 



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JUDGE LYMAN BALCOM. 



The subject of this sketch is of Scotch origin of about the fifth 



feneration. It is related that two brothers settled in Sudbury, 

 liddlesex Co., Mass., having come from the north of England, to 

 which place they had gone from Scotland. The great-grandfather 

 of Lyman Balcom was poisoned when about forty years pf age, 

 leaving a family of five sons and one daughter, of whom Henry 

 Balcom, the grandfather of Lyman, was the youngest. He was 

 born in 1740 in Worcester Co., Mass. Served in the French and 

 Indian war from 1766 to 1763, and was also a soldier in the Revolu- 

 tionary war. He passed through both wars uninjured, and was 

 honorably discharged, By occupation, a carpenter and joiner and 

 farmei*. He married Miss Coziah Stow, a native of Worcester Co. , 

 Mass.) by whom seven children, two sons and five daughters, were 

 born, of whom Col. Samuel Balcom was the second son and fifth child. 



Henry Balcom was injured by a horse when an old man of sevenl^- 

 two, and died from the effects of the injury in October, 1812. His 

 wife died in the fall of 1826, at the good old age of ninety. 



Col. Samuel Balcom was born in Shrewsbury, Worcester Co., 

 Mass., Dec. 31, 1772. He was reared a farmer and carpenter, and 

 continued to follow it through life. He married Miss Polly Knapp, 

 a native of Connecticut, during the winter of 1799, at which time 

 they were citizens of Oxford, Chenango Co., N. Y. Mrs. Polly 

 Balcom was born Dec. 1, 1780, and removed to Chenango County, 

 when but ten years of age, with one Eliza Blackman. She was 

 the first white girl or woman in Oxford. Mr. Balcom settled in 

 Oxford about 1790. Of this union of Mr. and Mrs. Balcom nine 

 children were born, six sons and three daughters, all of whom lived 

 to maturity, of whom Judge Lyman Balcom is the eldest, born 

 Nov. 19, 1800, in Norwich (now Preston), Chenango Co., N. Y., 

 two and a half miles from Oxford, north. Col. Samuel Balcom 

 was extensively engaged in lumbering in this county from 1829 

 to 1835. He and his wife were residents of the county from 1836 

 to 1837, when they returned to Oxford and spent their remaining 

 days. He was colonel in the State militia, having risen from a pri- 

 vate. He and his wife were members of the Baptist Church of 

 Oxford. He was a presidential elector in 1840 for Harrison ; he 

 was at first a Jeffersonian and Jackson Democrat, but later in life 

 a Whig. He served as magistrate for several years in Chenango 

 County. He died August, 1847, and Mrs. Balcom died October, 

 1852, and both lie sleeping side by side in the cemetery at Oxford. 



Judge Lyman Balcom received a common-school education. 

 He was reared a farmer and lumberman. At the early age of 

 thirteen he commenced lumbering ; at fifteen he went down the 

 Susquehanna with his father. The next year he went alone, and 

 when but seventeen years of age he was a pilot. Lumbering has 

 been one of the chief occupations of his early life. When about 

 twenty years of age he commenced life for himself. Prom the first 



he has been very successful in making money. He wais the owner 

 of some #ve hundred or more acres before he settled in Steuben 

 County, which he sold. He bought and sold several farms before 

 his settlement in Campbell, Steuben Co., which was in April, 

 1835, and settled in Erwin, April, 1852. He made his first pur- 

 chase in Steuben of one thousand acres for ten hundred and thirty 

 dollars in 1832, which he sold in 1836 for six thousand dollars. 

 Previous to this sale he bought more th-an sixteen hundred acres 

 more, which he sold in 1836 also. He has bought and sold more 

 than five thousand acres of land. He purchased his present 

 beautiful farm home in 1864, having previously purchased the 

 larger part of hi? farnj. ^ 



Judge Balcom is not (?nly the representative farmer of Erwm, 

 but of the entire Chemung Valley. His farm is situated on the 

 northwest side of the Tioga River, about half a mile above the con- 

 fiuence of the Tioga and Conhocton Rivers. It is very level, and 

 one of the most productive farms in the State, yet Mr. Balcom hag 

 made his farm doubly productive by his course of farming. He 

 has made agriculture a study, and enjoys an enviable reputation 

 as a successful farmer He has four good houses and ten barns, 

 some of which are very large. He hag made his farm by ditching 

 and by the judicious use of manure and plaster. A view of his 

 home may be seen opposite. In politics he was a Jackson Demo- 

 crat, but later joined the Whig party, and became a Republican 

 when that party was organized. He has held various town offices 

 both here and in Chenango County. 



He has been assessor several terms, supervisor of Erwin from 

 1871 to 1872. He has been a delegate several times to district, 

 county, congressional, senatorial, and State conventions, and was 

 elected to the State Legislature in 1867, and served one term. He 

 was an associate judge of the county court from 1840 to 1846. In 

 all his official positions he has given general satisfaction, 



Mrs. Balcom is a member of the Presbyterian society, and Mr. 

 Balcom is a regular attendant of the various societies, though not 

 a member of any. He married Miss Clarissa Hollenbeck, daughter 

 of Abram and Margaret Hollenbeck, of Greene, Chenango Co., 

 N. Y., July 12, 1820. She was born Sept. 7, 1799, in Greene, 

 N. Y. Of this union six children were born, viz. : Mary E., 

 Samuel, Margaret, Charles, Susan P., and Jane E., all living save 

 Mary, who died July 30, 1869. Mr. Balcom has taken the premium 

 several times for fine stock, and was president of the Agricultural 

 Society several years ago ; also vice-president. He was a director 

 of the Steuben County Bank for several years. 



Mr. and Mrs. Balcom had their golden wedding July 12, 1870, 

 at which time were gathered their children and grandchildren and 

 other members of the family, also a very large number of their 

 neighbors and friends. 



